WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.240 Happy Father's Day to all you dads. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:07.599 We have for you just a little gift on the way out when you exit soda pop. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:09.679 You get a pop for you. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:12.960 You can grab one of those on the way out. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:16.640 I want to begin by us pondering, like Charles talked about, the perfect father. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:22.800 And if you remember two years ago we looked at this painting for several weeks, it's Rembrandt's painting, the prodigal. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.480 And this is coming off the story of the prodigal son, of course. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:38.399 If you remember a couple years ago, as we broke this painting down, because it's an incredible painting for us to ponder, not just us as broken down children in need, but also our heavenly father. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:49.520 If you remember the story of the parable, the boy takes his inheritance, runs off, he embarrasses his dad, he wastes the money, he lives lavishly, he's broken, he's beaten up, he's starving to death. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:50.799 Finally, he comes back home. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:51.439 He's nothing. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:53.119 He has nothing but his confession. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:55.039 He has nothing but his emptiness. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:58.560 And his loving father wraps him up. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:04.000 The story actually says he comes off the porch and runs toward him and wraps him up. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:13.760 And if you remember, we learned that in this painting, if you zoom in there, one hand is a masculine hand representing the strength and the hold of God. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:20.879 And Rembrandt painted the other hand as a feminine hand representing the tenderness and the nurturing heart of God. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:25.040 And that's what we have in the perfectly, the perfect Heavenly Father. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:34.799 We have both a strength and a hold and a faithfulness in God to us, and we also have this tender heart that's nurturing toward us. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:50.480 So even while we are imperfect fathers in this world, and we have imperfect earthly fathers, we have a heavenly father that always cares for us and always parents us rightly, even while we're not understanding and even while we live in an imperfect world. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:59.040 Now, today in Judges 11, we're gonna see clearly an imperfect father and an imperfect guy and a dysfunctional family. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:07.439 And a story, one of those, another story in the book of Judges, as we make our way through it, that we just read and we could read it just as history. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:12.879 And that's something just in and of itself, but there's a lot in this story for us to pull into our lives. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:15.599 So let's revisit a few of these verses that Charles read for us. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:17.599 Judges 11, 1 through 3. 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:22.960 Now Jephthal the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:28.240 Gilead was the father of Jephthah, and Gilead's wife also bore him sons. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:37.599 And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:45.039 Then Jephthal fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:50.159 So Jephthaw was the son of Gilead, his dad, and a prostitute. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:03:01.199 So the other brothers at a certain age, they're putting it together that Jephthal is not just from dad and mom, but a prostitute, but he's in the father's house, and therefore he would take a share of the inheritance. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:05.599 So the brothers, of course, get together and then decide this guy's got to go. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:06.960 We'll each get more money. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:08.800 And so they run him off. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:10.639 They kick him out. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:12.560 So Jephthal's out of the house. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:15.919 He's out of the security of his home and his family. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:23.680 He is out in the middle of the wilderness and is gets mixed up with basically a bunch of criminals. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.000 And that's where Jephthal is at. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:33.919 And yet, eventually, these people of Gilead come back to him and beg him to lead them in battle. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:38.240 Now, what we don't get in these verses is any sort of record of concern by the dad. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.479 We actually don't, like, what's the dad? 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:41.840 Is the dad aware of this? 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:43.520 What's going on with dad? 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:44.080 Right? 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.719 The poor child's kicked out of his home. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:52.560 It's not even his fault that his father slept with the prostitute to be in the home in that way. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:59.680 And yet there's no record of the dad like going after him or punishing the brothers. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:07.759 I'm not a fathering expert, and certainly I'm not a fathering expert to the ancient Near East thousands of years ago. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:21.040 But it just seems to me, just seems to me that the dad should know where one of his kids are at, and if he figured out how his son was booted out of the family by the brothers, that he would go after his son. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:25.279 I mean, we could just kind of call this an epic dad fail. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.240 So speaking of dad fails, that made me curious. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:31.120 I have a few images to share with you this morning. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.399 This was the first epic dad fail I liked. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:39.040 Because it felt efficient, uh, it's the kind of thing I would do. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.920 Um I think a lot of us would be like, yeah, that works. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.319 Hopefully she can breathe under there. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.319 Uh but it's creative, and I like that. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.839 The second, here's the second dad fail I appreciated. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:52.079 Much more creative. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:05:00.399 I mean, oh, you know, with different culture, let's not be too judgmental, but I still think it's over the line of creativity. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:05.040 Um, moms, don't get too excited because I found this one just for you. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:12.000 I mean, the thing looks really soft, so I'm sure, I'm sure the baby's fine. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:15.759 We all fumble, don't we? 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:16.240 Get it? 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:17.120 See what I did? 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:17.759 How we did that? 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:19.519 See, we all fumble, right? 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.800 When it comes to parenting, we we all fumble. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:23.920 That's this parenting thing. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.800 We're we're all imperfect parents trying to do a good job. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:39.920 And in Judges 11, we get an imperfect parent, a dysfunctional family, and a crooked past, and yet God raises up this kid, this guy, Jephthal. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:45.360 I mean, he's been a criminal to be the savior of these people. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:47.839 And the point number one is this such good news for us. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.279 Leadership does not require pedigree or perfection. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:54.079 I mean, think about Jephthal's story. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.720 Kicked out of his family's house, runs around with criminals. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:00.800 I mean, he doesn't have it. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:06.079 Like he's the least of the sons to pick, and yet he's the one who steps into leadership. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:23.439 I think that means a lot whether that means for you something of being a leader just as being a Christian, or whether that means of being a parent, or whether in your workplace, that it you don't have to degrade yourself and say, oh, well, I could never be because of my pedigree, or I could never be because of my past. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:29.040 For application to dad's, my heart went straight to Ephesians 6, 4. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:37.360 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:41.759 So guide and teach, but don't wear them out. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:43.680 Don't provoke them. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:48.399 Which means you're in relationship with your child. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:07:09.759 Because if you think about this, for you to know the moment before you've provoked them into anger, it means that you know your child well enough that before anger happens, you know when to discern, when to teach, when to listen, when to push, when to embrace, when to punish, when to absolve. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:11.199 Right? 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:13.920 It presumes relationship. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:18.079 Here's the application, I think, for dads this morning. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:20.959 Number one is this coming off this Ephesians 6.4. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:27.920 When their hearts into relationship, win their hearts into relationship, instruct along the way. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:35.040 What I mean by that is this my instruction to my child is inside my pursuit of their heart. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:38.560 I think that's what Ephesians 6.4 is saying. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:39.759 How would we know? 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:45.360 How would we know the moment before our child moves into anger unless we know our children? 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:53.759 Ephesians 6.4 presumes the relationship of winning their hearts. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:55.199 Win their hearts. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:02.319 The second point of application: be present when you are present, but confess along the way. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:10.160 I think that has to do something with what it means to and how to win the relationship and win the heart of your child. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.920 There were years, and Christy will show pictures. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:15.600 I'll have no memory. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:19.199 I'll have no memory of the event. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.800 And some of those pictures, I'm in the picture. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:25.519 No memory. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:29.279 Like I was there and not there. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:30.240 Right? 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:34.080 Now, some some of the pictures, I'm not even in the picture. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:35.279 Right? 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:38.960 It just took me too long, and I'm still learning it. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.799 My kids are not waiting for me to be impressive. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:46.799 They're waiting for me to be present with them. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:51.759 Here's how confession fits into that. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:09:02.639 Every single time I mess up as a father, which is often, maybe I'm impatient, maybe I'm not listening, maybe I just mishandle it, maybe, you know, whatever. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:09.840 Every single time that I go to my child and confess, how I mess that up. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.720 It never causes them to respect me less. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.799 Actually, it deepens the relationship. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.799 And I actually gain legitimacy for the future. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:27.679 I think this is all about what it means to win the hearts of our children. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:37.519 And that our instruction is in the context of this type of relationship where we know our children so well that we would know the moment before they move into anger. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:39.360 Now let's go back to Judges 11. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:41.200 That was my bit of Father's Day tangent. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.600 Back to Judges 11, we pick up in verse 12. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:53.600 Then Jephthal sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, What do you have against me that you have come to me to fight against my land? 00:09:53.840 --> 00:10:04.240 And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthal, because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabak and to the Jordan. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:06.559 Now therefore restore it peaceably. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:08.320 So this guy says, I want my land back. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:09.360 You have my land. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:11.120 And this little argument forms. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:16.960 The king of Amon, he argues that the land belonged to his people, and the Israelites stole it. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:19.279 So Jephthah, he argues back. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:28.799 He says, No, no, no, we came out of Egypt, and the Ammonites and the Mobites, they lived in the east in Arnan, and Israel asked permission, can we pass through? 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:29.919 They said no. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:31.759 So, just a bit of the history here. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.919 So they traveled to the land that's in question, and the Amorites were there. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:39.039 And so Israel asked the Amorites, hey, can we pass through? 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:42.000 And the Amorites said no, so that battle happens. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:47.120 The Israelites beat out the Amorites, and so they gain the land by conquest. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.440 And this is Jephthaw's argument. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:51.200 Now here's the point. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:52.960 You go, what does that have anything to do with anything? 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:53.600 Well, here's the point. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:59.759 Point number two God desires to redeem all parts of our stories to form us into compassionate and wise leaders. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:08.639 See, one reason that Jephthaw is able to step into this leadership role so well is the shrewdness he learned as a criminal. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:10.159 Right? 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:20.240 I mean, he brought in that shrewdness, that ability to argue, that ability to stand boldly in front of somebody else and to argue and hold the line. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:29.600 Like his survival coping was actually a thing, a tool that he brought in to this leadership, and he brought it back to his people. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:38.240 Isn't that interesting how we'll learn unhealthy things because of an event in our lives and that actually that can be restored and used for good? 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:44.080 So let's think back to a quote I read last week by Dan Alender. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:52.480 I want us to think about this and to contemplate as I read it, Jephthal's life, but also contemplate your life. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:12:00.080 Because it's this idea of God restoring and redeeming the parts of our lives that we think, oh, that could never be of use. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.240 Nothing good could come of that. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:05.679 Here's what Dan Alender says, and we read it last week. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:07.279 Let's contemplate it again. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:22.000 In those moments of unnaming when we have lost ourselves, we must remember to return to our past redemptions to find God's mark of glory on our abandonment, betrayal, and shame. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:34.159 We wrongly believe that we will be happy if we can escape the past, but without our past, we are hollow and plastic beings who have only common names and conventional stories. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:42.720 When we enter into our story at the point we lost our name, we are most likely to hear the whisper of our new name. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:48.480 Now that's really beautiful language to say our past do not have to define us. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:53.039 But we can become free of them and we're formed by them. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:13:02.480 We're defined by our identity in Christ, not our sin, and also not the unnaming events that happened in our lives. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:22.240 Our redemption story is that we have this relationship with God, that we're secure because of Jesus, we're held for eternity, and there's a restoration of our past that's moving us into greater character and compassion and wisdom. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:33.279 That Jephthal brought what he learned in the wilderness with a bunch of crooked criminals, and he brought it into leadership, into the well-being for the people. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.759 And yet the story turns. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:40.559 The Ammonites don't listen to Jephthal's argument and his reasoning. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:45.039 So off to battle they go, and Jephthal he makes a vow. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:48.480 Here's what it says Judges 11, 30 and 31. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:14:07.919 And Jephthal made a vow to the Lord and said, If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, so if we win, if we win, if you'll let me win, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:12.639 Okay, what an absolute unreasonable prayer. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:21.759 If you give me this, then when I come home, just whatever comes out the door, I will kill it for you. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:23.440 That's what this is saying. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:28.720 Well, the good news is that the Israelites route the Emonites and they keep the land. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:38.720 The bad news is when Jephthal comes home, his sweet daughter comes out the door to celebrate with him. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:40.480 To celebrate with him. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:44.320 She's so proud of him and so happy. 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:47.279 And we get verse 35. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:15:03.360 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me, for I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:10.000 Alright, so if you picked up on it, the guy's gonna, he's gonna kill his daughter. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:25.360 I mean, the context here is the Israelites live around pagan people who have developed pagan fertility sex worship, perhaps how Jephthal came into the world through Gilead and a prostitute. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:30.240 And then also there's human sacrifice being done in the context here at the time. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:40.240 So this guy is caught up in his culture to begin to think that this would even be appropriate on any level. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:48.720 And then the story gets worse because he tells the daughter, and then the daughter affirms that he can't take back the vow. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:49.840 I mean, that's how messed up. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:53.360 The vow is messed up, everything's messed up here. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:16:12.240 When they've already been told, they have scripture, Deuteronomy 12, 31, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates, they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:14.159 It's already clear. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:22.000 And that's how far he's been wooed away from what it means to worship God, caught up in his culture at the time. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:24.559 And he goes and he kills his daughter. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:26.639 I mean he kills his daughter. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.039 And he thinks he's doing it for God. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:31.679 I mean, again, it's one of those stories. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:35.600 It's one of those stories in the Bible that if you isolate it, then just read it. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.559 So how easily we go, well, that's why I don't like the Bible. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:40.080 Like, that's why I don't read the Bible. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:41.360 Look what the Bible teaches. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:46.399 Or in fact, the story is actually teaching how messed up humanity is. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:54.399 When we don't listen and look at the scriptures for what is right and wrong, this is where we end up. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:57.759 Overly influenced by culture. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:07.839 And point number three is this we are all, we are all more affected by our culture than we want to admit. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:09.519 All of us. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:21.759 We're constantly being transformed, molded like clay, and our thinking and our opinions and our beliefs, by the news, by our friends, by entertainment. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:39.759 I mean, this is why Paul writes to us in the New Testament in Romans 12, too: do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:52.480 So this is about our starting point of truth and the trajectory of that and our heart and mind as we process and we think about beliefs and values and opinions. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.079 And the question is, is are we seeking the scriptures for that? 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:03.359 And then once we ask that question, the second question would be: are we seeking the scriptures to a point of studying them to actually understand what they mean? 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:03.680 Right? 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:15.119 Like I said, like we could just read Judges 11, but if you don't take the time to break that out, as how does this fit into the redemption story, we could come away with this story with all sorts of craziness. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:26.799 And I say that not to shame us that we read the Bible in a lazy way, but just to say, you know what, as you read the Bible, also get a study Bible, also get a commentary, get a good devotional book. 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:28.400 If you need help with that, email me. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:30.160 I'd love to help you with that. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:39.200 For us to become a Bible literate church, that we are seeking what is right and wrong, what is true and false in the scriptures. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:40.240 Last point. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:43.680 Works righteousness bounds us. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.000 Christ, the God of grace, frees us and grows us. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:50.880 Here's where this fits into this story. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:52.960 Jeff all things. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:55.839 I'll make a deal with God. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.279 Give me the victory, and I'll give you X. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.559 I'll give you X, you give me Y. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:03.599 Right? 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.039 Like God as a vending machine in the sky. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.000 And we want to control Him like that, don't we? 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:13.119 I mean, because then we can have control over our lives. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:19.359 And the problem is, of course, as soon as your life starts to break down, what does that mean about God? 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.000 The whole thing's toxic. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:34.640 The whole thing puts us to work to have to sacrifice more and more and more, do more and more, be more and more righteous, and then God will finally smile upon us or finally bless us. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:37.200 So you're tired even while you're doing it. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:44.319 And then if your life actually begins to break down, you go, well, is God not faithful? 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:49.680 Where the whole time we've built out a performance-based faith, that's just not true. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:50.799 It's just not true. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:54.319 It's a works righteousness that binds us. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:20:01.759 But the God of the Bible, He never asks people to sacrifice themselves to gain God's acceptance. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:02.480 No, no, no. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:06.480 We don't have to work harder in faith to cause God to smile upon us. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:07.839 And that's such good news. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.079 We are delighted in by God because of Jesus. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:17.759 So we get to serve Him and others. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:28.000 That distinguishment is huge because one way is freedom and growth, and the other way is a religiosity, a performance-based religiosity. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:32.079 We end up with all sorts of weariness and exhaustion. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:37.680 But the story of the redemption story is that Jesus is the final sacrifice. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:40.079 God provides. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.440 Church, we have a heavenly father who comes off the porch for us. 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:46.799 We have nothing. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:50.960 If we ponder back to that painting, Rembrandt's painting. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:54.799 Jeff didn't quite believe this. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.000 That God was a provider. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:58.559 Right? 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:00.960 Because he returns into this works righteousness. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:02.400 I'll give you something. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:03.920 If you give me something, I'll give you something. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:06.720 And you'll give me something because I give you something. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:11.200 Or the redemption story in the gospel is that we come with nothing. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:13.759 We come with our emptiness. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:15.200 Like in this painting. 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:17.200 This is how we show up. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:20.240 We are created beautifully. 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:22.480 We have the image of God in us. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:29.200 But in our sin, we come with open hands, with our emptiness, nothing more. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:30.799 And he accepts us. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:35.359 He accepts us in his strength and in his tenderness. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:36.799 Let's pray together. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:52.880 God, thank you for the story that we can contemplate just for a few minutes to be reminded that you desire to redeem all parts of our stories and that you will use them for where you've placed us in our lives. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:22:05.200 Whatever that means this morning, that we're a parent, and we need to learn what it means to be more present with you, or whether it means we're a child, or whether it means in our workplace or friendships. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:15.359 But just because we don't have pedigree, or just because we're not perfect, doesn't mean that you do not want to have us in a place of influence. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:21.839 And God, how we're so thankful that we don't have to live in a transactional relationship with you. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:30.240 But we are in a relationship of grace, not works righteousness, but Christ's righteousness. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:37.440 That all of our sin has been placed upon the cross and your righteousness has been given to us, and we are forever secure. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:39.359 Always your beloved. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:49.440 Help us to trust in greater ways of your goodness for us and not live in the ways that we see in the story. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:23:05.839 Overly influenced by our culture and committed to a way of faith that is weary and exhausting, help us to trust greater in the full sufficiency of Jesus that you are enough. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:12.240 Our relationship with you is secure, and out of that security, we get to serve you and serve others. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:13.759 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:14.640 Amen.